Baby delivered in Barnes & Noble bookstore by Torrance firefighters

Torrance >> Evan Wogoman and his Torrance Fire Department partner were halfway through their 24-hour shift Friday night when the call came in.

A woman was in labor — at a bookstore.

When they arrived at the Barnes & Noble store fronting Hawthorne Boulevard near Carson Street, the pregnant woman was lying in one of the aisles. She was wincing, screaming in pain and surrounded by a crowd of shocked customers, said Wogoman, who is a paramedic-firefighter.

That’s when he saw the crown of the baby’s head.

“Right when we walked up, the head was already out,” he said. “Then the baby just popped out. We grabbed it from the firefighters and cut the cord. (The mother) was doing fine but she was in pain. We stimulated the baby. We warmed the baby. And we transported the mother and baby boy to the hospital.”

Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center did not respond Saturday to media requests about the patients, who were dropped off in good condition just minutes after the unexpected birth nearby. The mother’s name was not released.

Marchelle Hughes, manager of the Torrance Barnes & Noble store, said nothing like the birth had ever happened in the store before. Employees and customers who saw the remarkable event said the woman reported labor pains immediately after walking inside the two-story bookstore at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s an awkward kind of event to happen,” Hughes said. “It’s in a public place, but it really turned into a tender moment for a lot of people. We’ve had customers calling today asking if we’re going to send a gift basket and commenting on how wonderful it is. It was just an amazing event for everyone.”

Wogoman said he is expecting his first child in January and has never before experienced a live birth. In training, he practiced delivering babies with mannequins. Still, he said he didn’t feel nervous during the delivery.

“You revert back to your training,” he explained. “It was really smooth, just like with the mannequin.”

Once the baby was out, Wogoman immediately assessed its health and reported to the worried mother that the baby boy was in excellent condition. The awed audience clapped and cheered, and the woman held her new son on the ride to the hospital, Wogoman said.

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“The most surprising thing was how smoothly it went,” he said. “She wasn’t planning on giving birth in a bookstore.”